The New Cider Maker’s Handbook – Claude Jolicoeur

The New Cider Maker’s Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for Craft Producers
by Claude Jolicoeur

Published by Chelsea Green Publishing Co - October 2013 - Hardcover - 352pp – 26cm x 21cm

All around the world, the public’s taste for fermented cider has been growing more rapidly than at any time in the past 150 years. And with the growing interest in locally grown and artisanal foods, many new cideries are springing up all over North America, often started up by passionate amateurs who want to take their cider to the next level as small-scale craft producers.

To make the very best cider — whether for yourself, your family, and friends or for market — you first need a deep understanding of the processes involved, and the art and science behind them. Fortunately, The New Cider Maker’s Handbook is here to help. Author Claude Jolicoeur is an internationally known, award-winning cider maker with an inquiring, scientific mind. His book combines the best of traditional knowledge and techniques with up-to-date, scientifically based practices to provide today’s cider makers with all the tools they need to produce high-quality ciders.

The New Cider Maker’s Handbook is divided into five parts containing:

• An accessible overview of the cider making process for beginners
• Recommendations for selecting and growing cider-appropriate apples
• Information on juice-extraction equipment and directions on how to build your own grater mill and cider press
• A discussion of the most important components of apple juice and how these may influence the quality of the cider
• An examination of the fermentation process and a description of methods used to produce either dry or naturally sweet cider, still or sparkling cider, and even ice cider

This book will appeal to both serious amateurs and professional cider makers who want to increase their knowledge, as well as to orchardists who want to grow cider apples for local or regional producers. Novices will appreciate the overview of the cider-making process, and, as they develop skills and confidence, the more in-depth technical information will serve as an invaluable reference that will be consulted again and again. This book is sure to become the definitive modern work on cider making.

‘J.M. Trowbridge wrote the first Cider Makers’ Hand Book in 1890. This modern take on the apple fermenter’s art picks up the trail anew. Claude Jolicoeur makes exceptional cider doable for even a guy like me. Balancing the acids and sugars of righteous juice lies at the heart of the method. Pour your friends the ‘nectar of the gods’ from here on in when next you pop a cork.’ — Michael Phillips, author of The Apple Grower and The Holistic Orchard

Claude Jolicoeur is the author of The New Cider Maker’s Handbook, which has been acclaimed worldwide as a major reference on the topic of cider making. In French, he has authored Du pommier au cidre (From Apple Tree to Cider) and collaborated to the collective work La transformation du cidre au Québec (Cider Processing in Quebec). A mechanical engineer and research scientist by profession, he started in the late 1980s making cider as a hobby. Since then, he has accumulated vast experience, always searching to obtain the highest quality possible. His ciders have earned many awards at competitions, including Best of Show at the prestigious Great Lakes International Cider and Perry Competition (GLINTCAP). Claude has travelled widely throughout the Cider Planet, is regularly invited to be a guest speaker or cider judge at international cider festivals and events, and actively participates in discussion forums such as the Cider Workshop. He currently works on the evaluation of wild native apples for the establishment of collections of high-quality cider apple varieties that are well adapted to the conditions of eastern Canada. He lives in Quebec City.